Customary rear view devices which are used in a motor vehicle are mirrors which frequently have regions with differing degrees of convexity. As a result, the driver can better see a blind spot or blind spots. However, the rear view devices are only small in size and the partial region which is additionally formed in the mirror in order to view the blind spot better reduces the available mirror region. As a result, the driver then only has a small partial region for sensing the surroundings to the rear.
Furthermore, camera-supported rear view systems are known which provide both cameras in the lateral exterior mirrors and a central camera to the rear. The image excerpts which are generated by means of the cameras and which represent the surroundings to the side of the motor vehicle and the surroundings to the rear of the motor vehicle are displayed in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, in partial sections of a display arranged one next to the other. With this known solution there is also the problem that a display cannot be made sufficiently large to display all the displayed image excerpts to a sufficient size. The large number of represented image excerpts can additionally serve as a distraction from the image information which is essential for the driver.